Ulster

As a quarter-century of crass commercialism officially erodes and formally takes its toll on the Woodstock Festival and what it represented, the memory of a different event coinciding with Woodstock must not be eclipsed or forgotten. As the festival began in America, the British army invaded Ulster and occupies it still. Any entrepreneurial promoters or corporate sponsors willing to underwrite that silver anniversary celebration? JACK TANIS Hollywood

Every day is St. Patrick's Day when Michael Dickson, a caterer turned firefighter, is on shift at Station 3 in the town of Palm Beach. Dickson, a native of Belfast, Northern Ireland, does most of the cooking for the crew of six firefighters who've become spoiled by the Irishman's stews, meat loaves and chicken dishes. Their favorite meal, and the one most in demand when Dickson cooks for his colleagues, for retirement parties and for the Palm Beach Town Council, is Stuffed Guinness Steak.

If the idea of an orchestra of major quality from Northern Ireland strikes you as improbable, get to West Palm Beach Auditorium tonight or the Broward Center on Friday for some strong evidence. The Ulster Orchestra, which made its South Florida debut in Miami Beach on Monday, is quite an ensemble -- rich-toned, poised, spirited, unfailingly expressive. Founded in 1966, the orchestra only reached full symphonic size in 1981. It has accomplished a good deal since then, including successful international tours and several highly regarded recordings.

A 20-year-old Roman Catholic mail carrier was shot and killed on Saturday as he reported for work at 5 a.m. on the outskirts of Belfast. A group calling itself the Red Hand Defenders -- the name is a cover used by Protestant paramilitary organizations -- claimed responsibility for the killing and threatened to kill Catholic schoolteachers across Northern Ireland. The killing followed renewed conflict last week over a school for Catholic girls, Holy Cross, that is inside a Protestant area.

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her Cabinet approved a historic agreement with Dublin aimed at bringing peace to Ulster today, British radio reported. Thatcher and her ministers convened in London on schedule, a spokeswoman said. The British Broadcasting Corp`s radio arm reported soon afterward the Cabinet "is believed to have put the final seal of approval on an Anglo-Irish agreement on the problems of Northern Ireland." The BBC said the pact was to be signed by Thatcher and Irish Prime Minister Garret FitzGerald "at a summit meeting (in Northern Ireland)

A British soldier was killed in an apparent IRA sniper attack in Northern Ireland on Thursday, further weakening hopes for a peace initiative launched two weeks ago. The slain soldier, 23, the first fatality since the Anglo-Irish initiative was announced, was hit by a bullet fired at an army patrol in the village of Crossmaglen in south Armagh district. Hours earlier, Irish Republican Army operatives twice attacked police and troops in Belfast with mortar shells, wounding one soldier.

James Doan, a professor of liberal arts at Nova Southeastern University in Davie, will be spending some time next year in Northern Ireland - thanks to a British Council Research Fellowship. The six-month fellowship will allow Doan to conduct research while he spends time at the University of Ulster, Coleraine and at the Institute of Irish Studies at Queen's University in Belfast. Doan is a member of the American Conference for Irish Studies and an officer of the International Association for the study of Anglo-Irish Literature.

WHEN DEALING WITH divisions as deep as those that separate Ireland and Northern Ireland, no amount of negotiation can produce an understanding immediately acceptable to both sides. The Anglo-Irish agreement that went into effect last week has roused bitter opposition in predominately Protestant, British-controlled Ulster in the north. It will not satisfy many of Ireland`s Catholics, either, since it leaves the province in British hands. That any kind of accord could be reached, however, gives hope that reason may one day still the guns and defuse the terrorist bombs that have taken so many innocent lives since long-standing animosities erupted in large-scale violence in the 1960s.

Sheridan Hills Christian School in Hollywood has announced the members of the National Honor Society for the 1995-96 school year. They are: Esdras Garcia, Karen Hanelin, Terri Mellender, Jovan Solic, Jodi St. Thomas and Victor Yuen, 10th grade; and Shellie Yonkman, 11th grade. The Sheridan Hills Chapter of the National Honor Society annually raises money to donate to a Christian charity. This year, the chapter plans to raise funds to sponsor a child in a foreign country. -- James Doan, a professor of liberal arts at Nova Southeastern University in Davie, will be spending some time next year in Northern Ireland - thanks to a British Council Research Fellowship.

Every day is St. Patrick's Day when Michael Dickson, a caterer turned firefighter, is on shift at Station 3 in the town of Palm Beach. Dickson, a native of Belfast, Northern Ireland, does most of the cooking for the crew of six firefighters who've become spoiled by the Irishman's stews, meat loaves and chicken dishes. Their favorite meal, and the one most in demand when Dickson cooks for his colleagues, for retirement parties and for the Palm Beach Town Council, is Stuffed Guinness Steak.

Protestant residents of a Belfast neighborhood have decided to end their 12-week-old protest that has forced Roman Catholic schoolchildren to walk to classes under the protection of armed riot-squad police and military escorts. The daily demonstrations and the scenes of young children and their parents becoming targets of screamed obscenities, stones, bricks and pipe bombs have focused international attention on the depths of community suspicions and hatreds at a time when Northern Ireland is seeking to end decades of sectarian violence.

Northern Ireland Protestant politicians announced Thursday they were pulling out of a power-sharing arrangement with Catholics to protest the failure of the Irish Republican Army para-military movement to surrender its weapons. Political analysts interpreted the announcement as largely a tactical move designed to put pressure on the IRA to start disarming. But it could lead to the suspension of Northern Ireland's three-year-old experiment in self-government and the reimposition of direct rule from London.

After a weekend of maneuvering, Northern Ireland's politicians have pulled back from another one of the brinks with which they are plagued. But by angering Roman Catholics linked to the Irish Republican Army, the contortions used to rescue the home-rule assembly, made up of both Roman Catholics and Protestants, may have built yet another brink from which retreat will be increasingly difficult. In some ways there is a heavy sense of events repeating themselves. On July 1, David Trimble, the Protestant leader, resigned as first minister of the Northern Ireland Assembly, protesting the IRA's refusal to commit itself to a timetable for discarding its arsenal.

Northern Ireland's feuding political parties nudged their fragile power-sharing government closer to suspension on Thursday after a key Protestant leader brushed off as inadequate the latest overture by the Irish Republican Army to end a long-standing dispute over weapons. The decades-old saga that has pitted Roman Catholics against Protestants continued to unfold Thursday after the IRA confirmed through a statement that its leaders have signed off on a method for scrapping the group's sizable cache of arms.

The Ulster Unionist leader, David Trimble, faced down a severe challenge from within his badly divided Protestant party and narrowly held on to leadership Saturday in a vote that was seen as crucial to the survival of the Northern Ireland peace settlement. Trimble was able to stave off the leadership challenge from Jeffrey Donaldson, who opposes the peace accord, only after adopting a far harder line toward remaining in a power-sharing government with Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army.

David Trimble held off a surprisingly strong challenge to his leadership of the Ulster Unionist Party on Saturday, but emerged with his authority and his room to maneuver in conducting peace negotiations diminished. Trimble, the province's most prominent Protestant politician, defeated the Rev. Martin Smyth with 57 percent of the vote of the ruling Ulster Party Council. Although the result ensured his spot at the top of the province's largest party for another year, it also indicated deepening division among members over going forward with the steps aimed at sharing power with the Catholic minority outlined in the Northern Ireland peace agreement.

The Ulster Unionist leader, David Trimble, faced down a severe challenge from within his badly divided Protestant party and narrowly held on to leadership Saturday in a vote that was seen as crucial to the survival of the Northern Ireland peace settlement. Trimble was able to stave off the leadership challenge from Jeffrey Donaldson, who opposes the peace accord, only after adopting a far harder line toward remaining in a power-sharing government with Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army.

The Northern Ireland Assembly met for the first time on Wednesday and chose a moderate Protestant Unionist politician who supports the peace agreement to become the province's new leader. David Trimble, head of the Ulster Unionist Party, became first minister with 69.3 percent support. The job of deputy first minister went to Catholic nationalist Seamus Mallon, deputy head of the Socialist and Democratic Labor Party. Trimble and Mallon took their oaths of office at the Castle Buildings, home of the Assembly, committing themselves to "serve all the people of Northern Ireland equally and to act in accordance with the general obligations on government to promote equality and prevent discrimination."

Britain said on Wednesday that the Royal Ulster Constabulary, the militaristic police force of Northern Ireland, would be reduced, its membership broadened to better reflect the population of the province and its politically charged name retired. Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson told a boisterous session of Parliament that the changes were needed to produce a "modern, effective police service drawing support and strength from all parts of the community." He said it was time to end the constabulary's status as a "fulcrum for antagonistic debate."

Northern Ireland's biggest Protestant political party cleared the way on Saturday for implementation of the long-stalled 1998 Good Friday peace agreement, approving a plan that will enable Roman Catholics and Protestants to share power in a new self-rule government starting on Thursday. Under the plan, the Irish Republican Army is expected to name a representative on the same day to a commission charged with overseeing the dismantling of both Catholic and Protestant arsenals of weapons by next spring.